New gender policy no good without enforcement

Women's rights activists in Zimbabwe have given a guarded welcome to a National Gender Policy, launched this week to coincide with the UN's International Women's Day. They welcomed the policy guidelines, released on Monday, which aim to create equal opportunities in all spheres of Zimbabwean life, but warned that the real test would be in the implementation. "The National Gender Policy recognises the fact that women constitute more than 52 percent of the population of Zimbabwe. It is therefore important that their representation and participation in the development process should be commensurate with this numerical reality," reads part of the document. The policy insists that women should be better represented in parliament. Currently, there are only 13 female MPs among the 120 elected members. The president appoints 30 non-constituency MPs, but at present only two of these are women. It also calls for the establishment of gender desks in all government departments to ensure equality. Janah Ncube, the chairperson of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, a grouping of women's organisations, responded cautiously to the new guidelines. "The National Gender Policy is a good instrument in that it is an outcome from broad-based consultations. Another positive aspect is that the government is acknowledging that issues of inequality and inequity exist, and that they need to be addressed," Ncube told IRIN. "But the problem is that the document has been on the table for four years and some of the findings may have been overtaken by events. What we want to see are laws that will be in line with government's commitment to addressing issues of gender imbalances." She said there was an urgent need to enact legislation that would make it possible to enforce the policy. "As it is, the policy is just a beautiful document which can last forever - it is like a very beautiful love-letter coming from a lover who always abuses you." Although it was good to hear it spelled out that political representation should reflect demographic realities, Ncube said, preparations for next year's parliamentary elections were at an advanced stage, with no indications that there would be more female candidates. Isabella Matambanadzo, executive director of the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network, a gender and development NGO, said while the policy was positive, resources needed to be available to implement it. "The policy is very good, and what now needs to be done is to see it being implemented. If you look at what other countries in the region have been able to accomplish in terms of gender equality and equity, you will see that we are so far behind and have to do a lot of strategic work, in as far as implementing the policy is concerned, if we are to really benefit from its provisions," Matambanadzo told IRIN. She said funds were needed to ensure full implementation of the policy. "At the moment, there is no budget for the implementation of the gender policy. In fact, if you analyse the national budget for 2004, you will see that the Gender Department in the Ministry of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation received one of the smallest votes."